Emotional Response
by kinzee42
Summary: Spock comes across the Captain crying, what is a half Vulcan to do? K&S, possible K/S pre-SLASH if you squint. Not angsty.


Just something that popped into my head last night.

Disclaimer: I own neither Kirk nor Spock and have no money with which to buy them . . .

This is a one shot, but I may do several that can be read together if it gets a good response.

Kirk & Spock friendship. Possibly Kirk/Spock pre-SLASH if you squint.

xXxXxXx

Spock was walking down one of the less well used recreational corridors of the Enterprise. It was mid gamma shift and he was not due on duty for another 4.3 hours. It was not an uncommon sight to see Spock methodically making his way through the corridors in his time off. But his usual routes were quiet, logically planned for the least chance of interruption, without going too far from the bridge in case of emergency.

Spock had just calculated that the chance of his walk, on this particular corridor, being interrupted was 6.587%, a pleasingly low number (or it would be it Spock was pre-disposed to feel pleased), when the Captain came barrelling out of the room to his right. Spock froze. The Captains' presence itself was not a shock. The captain had an annoying, if useful, habit of beating low statistical likelihoods. No, it was the tears pouring freely down the Captain's face that caused the Vulcan's unplanned termination of movement.

There was a second pause as Spock's incredibly fast brain sought the correct response for such an unusual occurrence. Normally he would be asking if the Captain was emotionally compromised, or if there was something wrong with the ship, or if the Captain was physically unwell. But neither of them was on duty, he hadn't been informed of any severe changes and the Captain was evidently healthy, no he surmised it must be a personal issue.

This left him with a bigger conundrum; if it were anyone else he would tactfully look away and proceed with his walk, not mentioning what he had seen. However, from careful study of human social interacting he knew that, between those that could be considered friends, such a response was not acceptable. And here in lay the difficulty, over the last 9 nine months he and the Captain had struck up a cautious friendship in their recreational time, based on a mutual ability in three dimensional chess. However, his knowledge told him that a human response to such a situation would be physical. Most likely a hug ended with a slap on the back from a male companion or a kiss on the cheek (and endless questions) from a female.

This was not a comfortable prospect - not an emotion, just a fact, of course, it would physically be uncomfortable for Spock to bring himself into contact with an emotionally distressed being. But eventually he came up with an acceptable compromise.

xXxXxXx

Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise had a secret, a deep, dark and evil secret that no one could ever know. It had sprung from years of living with a slovenly Uncle, whilst his Mother was in space. He liked to cook.

Not baking or anything as girly as that (not to mention he was lactose intolerant and allergic to nuts), but when you live with an Uncle that supplies microwave meals for dinner, most of them containing something that will kill you, then you soon learn to compensate. Over the years it had become habit, a habit that he had missed at the academy where the food source was replicator or the cafeteria slop.

Once he had started Captaining the Enterprise he hadn't expected to get the opportunity to practise his secret hobby. Then he had found a full working kitchen in one of the lesser known recreation areas and it had seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. He had set about creating one of his favourite Earth dishes, lasagne. However upon slicing the onions he had found that the tearing of his eyes was much worst normal. So to remove himself from the onions he had strode, tears streaming down his face, out of the room and nearly collided with Spock.

Jim froze, feeling an overwhelming sense of horror, staring at Spock through the tears, as Spock stared at him. Spock, his first officer. Spock the emotionally constipated half Vulcan. Spock, whose company he had been growing to increasingly appreciate. And here he was crying. Jim half expected the Vulcan to ask if he was emotionally compromised and not fit for duty. A bubbling sense of hysteria rose in him as he imagined how that conversation would go.

'"_Captain are you emotionally compromised?"_

"_No Mr. Spock I was cutting onions."_

_Eyebrow quirk._

"_Does the action of cutting up a nerve less terrain vegetable distress you? How illogical considering you carnivorous tendencies."_

Instead after a second Spock took a stilted step forward and clapped Jim twice on shoulder before looking directly in his eyes.

"Whatever emotional stimulus is currently being evoked in you is statistically likely to fade with the subsequent passage of time." It came out in a curiously monotone voice.

With that Spock turned and proceeded to walk back the way he had come.

Jim stared after him bemused, had Spock just _comforted_ him. Maybe he should recommend some time off for the Vulcan, he was quite sure that wasn't a natural response.

xXxXxXx

Spock looked thoughtfully at his own hand. He had of course obtained a transient emotional transfer at the contact with his Captain. It was interesting, the Captain had been experiencing embarrassment, surprise and slight pain but not sadness as Spock had surmised. His hypothesis on the Captain's emotional state had evidently been erroneous. He filed away the observation that humans did not require a significant negative input to make them cry.

Then he turned his intellect to the identity of the other emotional he had felt from the Captain. It hadn't been significantly prominent enough for Spock to identify what it was, possibly due to the other emotions overwhelming it. None the less Spock had felt it and it intrigued him, soft, warm and bright.

_Fascinating. _

xXxXxXx

End

If I get a good response to this oneshot I'll write about Spock experimenting to work out what the feeling is . . .


End file.
